MADreads

By the time Sam Wyndham washes ashore in Calcutta, he’s a damaged man. Reeling from the loss of his wife to influenza, nursing a opioid addiction and faith in the British Empire severely bruised by what he witnessed in the French trenches, he comes to Calcutta in 1919 in an attempt to start afresh—or maybe escape into oblivion, he hasn’t decided which. In A Rising Man, Abir Mukherjee’s first in a series centered on Wyndham, if the former soldier was wishing to get out of the frying pan...read more

“Sun says, Wake up – come out and explore . . .“ Helen Frost’s book Wake Up! (Candlewick Press, 2017) takes a simple poem and combines it with beautiful and close-up nature photography by Rick Lieder. The reader sees baby birds peeking out of a nest, insects crawling on plants and flowers, and a tadpole in the water. All of these animals are hatching, crawling, flying, cawing – awakening! Young readers will enjoy the rhythm and rhyme of the language along with the captivating pictures. Don’t...read more

One of the watershed moments in Middle East history came in September 1993, when Yitzhak Rabin and Yasir Arafat grasped each other’s hands before a beaming President Clinton after signing the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements. The agreement, better known as the Oslo Accords, demonstrated that what was deemed impossible—the possibility of Israeli and Palestinian leaders to meet and agree on a peace...read more

Meet adorably angsty Jonesy! Her dad owns a donut shop called "Donut Worry, Be Happy" and Jonesy works there part-time. She's a writer of 'zines, a pop star devotee and she thinks she's charmed. Jonesy believes she makes people fall in love with each other! She tests it out on unsuspecting friends and family and discovers something big: she can't make anyone fall in love with HER. Hmmmm. Maybe not so charmed?!? Something else that must be mentioned: Jonesy's eclectic sense of style and...read more

New Historical Mystery SeriesI recently read two new firsts in historical mystery series and am thrilled with both of them. If you've read my MADreads reviews then you know I'm a fan of historical mysteries, so to my mind there are never enough. I'm delighted to have found these two - both of which hold the promise of more to come.
Murder on Black Swan Lane by Andrea Penrose is set in Regency London and introduces the hero and heroine...read more

A new kid is always the main attention for a while. But there is something different about Stargirl when she comes to Mica Area High School. First off is her style. It’s very different from everyone and varies from long dresses to shorter outfits. And she has a pet rat. Not your stereotypical girl. Then her personality kicks in. She sings happy birthday to everyone, looks out for everyone, cheers for everyone. But the kids don’t like it. They do their best to make it miserable for her. This is...read more

Janet Maslin of The New York Times puts The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney into the Squabbling Sibling genre*, which cracks me up. I didn’t know that was a genre. But it totally fits.
Take four siblings:
Leo – the handsome, successful entrepreneur who made a fortune with a gossip website, married to a spendthrift shrew (who spends most of said...read more

Accomack County, Virginia, posed on a spit of land bounded by the Atlantic to the east and Chesapeake Bay to the west, is an easily overlooked spot; even some native Virginians might be hard pressed to find it on a map. Forgotten on the map, it’s almost forgotten in reality. Once a thriving agricultural community and tourist destination that made it the richest rural county in the nation, the decline of both industries in Virginia left Accomack’s population dwindling, and a lot of houses...read more

While gushing about this book to people (and I do gush, you will too), I always end up quoting the blurbs on the back of the book, because they sum things up so perfectly. What could I say that is more convincing than, "..the John Hughes of queer 18th century adventure novels"? Or, "Filled with highwaymen, pirates, and heartpounding exploits of a romantic nature, this is the summer road trip novel you've been waiting for"? IT'S ALL TRUE.
Monty sets out for his grand tour of the...read more

This debut graphic novel about a group of cat astronauts with names like Major Meowser, Waffles, Blanket and Pom Pom is ridiculously cute, clever and timely. The Earth is populated by cats (and only cats as far as I can tell) and the President meets with the World's Best Scientist to discuss how to solve the global energy crisis. The result of their influential meeting? The smartest, best prepared and most adorable space cats in the world need to journey to the moon to build a super solar power...read more